Stock Market To Reopen Wednesday After Hurricane Sandy Hammers New York

OCTOBER 29: The closed New York Stock Exchange is barricaded with sand bags during the arrival of Hurricane Sandy .(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

The New York Stock Exchange is planning to reopen for trading Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m.

NYSE Euronextsaid its building and trading floor did not suffer damage during Hurricane Sandy, and plans to begin trading as normal Wednesday.

"We are pleased to be able to return to normal trading tomorrow," said NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer. "Our building and systems were not damaged and our people have been working diligently to ensure that we have a smooth opening tomorrow."

"As of now, we are shooting hard to open tomorrow and fully expect to do so," COO Larry Leibowitz told Reutersearlier.

Nasdaq also plans to resume operating on Wednesday as well, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Earlier, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the U.S. stock market will be back in action Wednesday. Cuomo said he discussed accelerating the reopening of Wall Street with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, and spoke with President Obama twice Tuesday.

Wall Street remains a ghost town Tuesday as New York City grapples with the impact of Hurricane Sandy, after the devastating storm caused incredible damage up and down the East Coast.

U.S. markets were shuttered for a second-consecutive session, the first weather-related delay of more than a single day since 1888. The New York Stock Exchange debunked rumors that its trading floor had flooded, but the exchange and its peers were preparing for the need to go all-electronic in an effort to have at least some semblance of a trading session at some point this week. That appears not to be necessary after NYSE said its building and floor are capable of handling a normal trading session.

While the exchanges believe they have the capability for an all-electronic trading session -- the Nasdaq and a number of other exchanges already do not have floor trading -- there were concerns this week about the support personnel required to keep the machines operating. In its latest release, NYSE Euronext says its NYSE Arca exchange should be considered the primary market under its proposed scenario to open for trading without the floor. The company plans to test the system Tuesday morning.

Index futures, traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, were trading in the red Tuesday morning but reversed course to close higher. E-mini Dow Jones industrial average futures went from down 31 points to up 8 points, while e-mini S&P 500 futures were off slightly more than a point before rallying to a nearly 4-point gain.

Another element at play in the efforts to restart U.S. equity trading is the fact that Wednesday marks the end of October, when many mutual funds close their fiscal year and asset managers of many stripes update investors on their holdings at month-end. Those firms may have been planning to trade into or out of certain holdings before the calendar turns to November. On Friday, the Labor Department reports monthly jobs data, always a market-moving event and one that could create some turbulence if volume is thin or technology issues arise.

As the tri-state area comes to grips with damage from a storm that has left millions without power -- and which some estimates believe could carry a $20 billion recovery price tag -- there was some business news over the last 24 hours.

Apple announced a management shakeup, showing iOS chief Scott Forstall and retail head John Browett the door, with Browett's departure coming less than a year after taking over for Ron Johnson following the Apple Store architect's defection to run JC Penney.

Pfizer and a number of other big-name companies delayed earnings releases this week due to the storm, but Ford Motor issued its results as scheduled Tuesday morning.

The carmaker delivered a profit of $1.6 billion even after taking a $468 million hit in Europe, bringing its losses there to over a billion dollars for the year. Ford will close three plants and cut up to 6,200 jobs in Europe by 2014. North America was a bright spot, with profits of $2.3 billion. Overall, Ford booked revenue of $32.1 billion. That represents a decline from a year ago, which is hardly uncommon in the current earnings cycle as a sluggish global economy has made top-line growth challenging.

Across the Atlantic, Deutsche Bank reported a $795 million third-quarter profit, while warning that the economic environment remains uncertain and presents a challenge. UBS meanwhile, announced a restructuring of its investment bank unit after booking a $2.3 billion loss. The firm will eliminate up to 10,000 jobs.